We All Fall Down - A Criminal Minds AU

Twenty Two

You wanted to know, you really did. But whatever it was, would it really excuse Spencer's behaviour that night? You couldn't see how it would, but regardless, you still wanted to know. You'd heard him out so far so you decided to let him talk.

"Alright, what was in that box."

Spencer hesitated, wondering how he could explain this to you in a way that wouldn't make you think less of his father. But JJ, the one person he thought had always had his back, her confronting him had shook him. His own sister, his own twin, had said that she would give his wife the money for a divorce unless his fixed things one way or another. Telling Y/N what was in that box, maybe it would make her realise why he had reacted the way he had.

"It was letters. Letters to my father from the love of his life."

"Your mom?"

"No. His old publisher's daughter. My father had an affair Y/N. An affair that lasted three years. My mom doesn't know, JJ doesn't know, but I found the letters when I was 12 and confronted my father about them."

William Reid had had an affair? You'd always thought he and Diana had had the perfect marriage, Spencer had always said how much he admired his parents relationship?

William Reid had had an affair and Spencer had known about it?

"What... What did your father say?"

"That he was sorry. He never meant for anyone to find out. That it was over already and he just kept the letters as a reminder. Then I asked him why? Why he'd done it? Why he'd cheated on my mom, the woman who had bore him two children?"

"And?" You were on the edge of your seat now, like this was a soap opera story, a scene where all the secrets would be revealed.

"He told me that I was too young to understand really, because I had never felt true love. He told me how much he did love my mother which was why he hadn't left her for this woman, that he wanted to keep the family together. He told me how mom had always supported his writing but that she never really understood it, because she wasn't a writer. That although she healed people, it was with medicine and that she didn't understand how powerful words could be. This woman, her name was Olivia, he told me that she understood him, because she was an aspiring writer too. And that her words were so beautiful that they could.... "

You interrupted him, "... set your soul on fire?"

He nodded, not looking at you. "The way she spoke about him in her letters, she adored him, worshipped him almost. She loved my father and he told me he how distraught he was when he ended it with her. He loved her too, more than anything, but he'd made a commitment to my mother, one he wouldn't walk away from no matter what. I listened to him talk about her, and I reread those letters over and over, and I kept them with me, swearing that my mother and sister would never find them because it would kill them to know. I was angry with him but.... "

"He was your father. You couldn't stay angry for too long."

"Yes. He was everything to me. I looked up to him and admired him and after replaying everything he'd said to me over and over again, I decided that when I fell in love, it would be with a writer. With someone who could understand the true power of words and how they could turn someone's world around if used correctly."

Pieces were falling into place in your mind, explanations weaving them self together. There was just a missing piece to the puzzle.

"Spencer, how old was this woman, and how old was your dad when it began?"

He scrunched up his nose a little, thinking. "My dad was... 31, he said? And she... she was in college, working at the her father's firm on an internship. She must have been around 19 when they met? Why do you ask?"